Machine for rolling tapered gears

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for rolling a tapered gear such as a bevel or hypoid gear by rolling the gear with a conjugate tapered gear. The machine includes means for applying pressure by effecting relative movement between the meshing gears along a line generally perpendicular to the pitch cone.

United States Patent Bregi et al. 1451 Jan. 18, 1972 I541 MACHINE FORROLLING TAPERED 1,669,818 5/1928 Gleason et al. ..72/s4 GEARS 1,677,7227/1928 Lowrie ..72/84 Inventors: g g xY- FOREIGN PATENTS R APPLICATIONSo o rosse omte ores, 1c

94,139 4/1923 Austria ..72/l02 [73] Assignee: Lear Siegler, Inc., SantaMonica, Calif.

d: 13 97 Primary Examiner-LowellA. Larson [22] May l oAttorney-Whittemore,Hulbert& Belknap [2]] Appl. No.: 36,932

[57] ABSTRACT [52] U.S. Cl ..72/102, 29/1592, 72/84 Apparatus forrolling a tapered gear such as a bevel or hypoid [51] lnt.Cl. ..B21h /04gear by rolling the gear with a conjugate tapered gear. The [58] Fieldof Search ..72/80, 84, 102, 107, 108; machine includes means forapplying pressure by effecting 29/1592 relative movement between themeshing gears along a line generally perpendicular to the pitch cone.[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 9 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures1,240,915 9/1917 Anderson 7 2/81 5? 44 3 r 58 50 40 3o 56 p mg: 54 w as26 I 28 \T"' I A l l 32 62 1% g I L f //I l /l l// MACHINE FOR ROLLINGTAPERED GEARS BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The gear-rolling machinecomprises a base having means thereon for supporting a tapered gearsuch, for example, as a bevel or a hypoid gear or pinion forsubstantially free rotation. Adjustably mounted on the base is a slidefor supporting a second tapered gear (either a bevel or hypoid gear orpinion) conjugate to the first mentioned gear.

One of these gears constitutes a die and is suitably hardened and isadapted to displace metal in the teeth of the mating gear to produce adesired tooth form.

In accordance with the present invention, rolling pressure is developedbetween the teeth of the gear and die by effecting a relative movementalong a path which is generally perpendicular to the pitch cones of thegear and die where the gear members are bevel gears, or along a pathwhich is parallel to the aforementioned path if the gear and dieconstitute a hypoid set.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front elevation of theapparatus. FIG. 2 is a sectional view on the line 2-2, FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring now to the drawings the machine comprisesa base indicated generally at which comprises side plates 12 and 14, abottom plate 16, a front plate 18, and a transverse support plate 20.Mounted at its upper surface, the support plate carries a block 22having ways 24 thereon on which a positioning slide 25 is mounted forhorizontal adjustment, as seen in the Figures. Means are provided foreffecting adjustment of the positioning slide comprising nut and screwmechanism indicated generally at 26, adapted to be operated by anoncircular projecting shaft end 28 adapted to be engaged by a suitabletool.

Mounted on the positioning slide 25 is an adjustable sine plate 30having a trunnion mounting 32 to the positioning slide 25 and providedwith means for effecting angular adjustment about the axis of thetrunnion connection. The means for effecting such angular adjustment isindicated generally at 34 and may comprise a suitable nut and screwmeans actuated by rotation of a noncircular shaft end 36 by a suitabletool. Details of this construction form no part of the presentinvention, but it will be noted that the device includes the threadedshaft 38 which is pivotally connected as indicated at 40 to the sineplate 30.

Suitable ways indicated at 42 are provided on the sine plate 30 andlongitudinally movable along these ways is a tool slide 44 which isconnected by a piston rod 46 connecting to a piston movablelongitudinally in a cylinder 48.

A rolling spindle housing 50 is connected to the tool slide 44 and thespindle housing 50 is adapted to be driven in rotation by suitable drivemeans such, for example, as a hydraulic motor indicated at 52. Thespindle housing 50 is trunnion mounted as indicated at 54 to the toolslide 44. Post 55 extends into opening 56 in slide 44 and abutmentscrews 57 and 58 cooperate to provide adjusting the angularity of thespindle housing 50 relative to the tool slide 44.

Carried by the front plate 18 of the base 10 is a work support 60 inwhich a vertical rotatable spindle is joumaled, adapted to carry thework piece W, which in this instance may be assumed to be a hypoidpinion. The rolling tool or die is indicated at D and is carried by aspindle within the spindle housing 50. Means are provided -for effectingminor angular adjustments of the work support 60 and this meanscomprises arcuate ways diagrammatically indicated at 62 together withsuitable means (not shown) for locking the work support 60 in adjustedposition. The work support 60 is adjustable horizontally along waysindicated at 64 by suitable screw-adjusting means 66 including anexternal noncircular shaft end 65, as best seen in FIG. 1. Finally,vertical adjustment of the work support 60 is accomplished by adjustingthe positioning slide 68 vertically along ways 70 by suitable threadedadjusting means indicated generally at 72 and including a noncircularshaft end 74 for application of a tool.

With the foregoing arrangement it will be observed that workpieces anddies of different dimensions may be accommodated by effecting theappropriate horizontal and vertical adjustments of the tool-positioningslide 25 and the work positioning slide 68. In the event that the workgear is a hypoid pinion, hypoid offset may be accomplished by effectinghorizontal lateral adjustment of the work support 60 to the positionbest illustrated in FIG. 1.

Finally, the machine comprises means for effecting the requiredadjustment of the sine plate 30 so that the relative movement betweenthe tool or die D and the workpiece W takes place generally along orparallel to a line perpendicular to the pitch cones of the die and gear,or in the case of a hypoid set, along a line which is parallel to theaforesaid line. Thus, for example, referring to FIG. 1 it will beobserved that if, instead of a hypoid pinion illustrated in this Figure,the gear set constituted an ordinary bevel gear set, the axes of the dieand gear would occupy a single vertical plane. Since however, the gearand die constitute a hypoid set, the hypoid pinion W is offset from thevertical plane containing the axis A. In this case the direction ofrelative movement between the die and the gear occupies the verticalplane passing through the axis of the die.

In various bevel or hypoid gear sets the cone angle of the pinion mayvary and this variation in cone angle is compensated for by an angularadjustment of the sine plate 30 about the trunnion axis 32, accompaniedby a corresponding adjustment of the tool spindle housing 50 about thetrunnion axis 54. Thus, the proper meshing relationship between thepinion and gear is maintained at all times while at the same timeeffecting an adjustment of the direction of relative movement whichproduces the rolling pressure between the teeth of the gear and die.

It is contemplated that the gear rolling operation may be performed inan extremely short cycle during which unidirectional rotation of the dieand gear takes place accompanied by an infeeding operation undersufficient force to develop the required pressure to finish the teeth ofthe work gear W. While relatively great pressure is desirable to producedisplacement of metal of the teeth of the work gear, which may amount toa few one thousandths of an inch, it is found that the force required torotate the die D and the work gear W in mesh is relatively small. Therate of rotation is not highly critical, but will normally amount to atleast a few revolutions per minute.

The specific disclosure illustrated and described in the foregoingsuggests that the operation is performed by a die D in the form of ahypoid gear, on a workpiece W in the form of a hypoid pinion. It will beunderstood of course that if the pinion is a suitably hardened die, thesame machine will perform a finishing operation on a gear carried by thespindle within the housing 50.

We claim:

1. A machine for finish rolling a tapered work gear comprising a rigidframe,

a first support on said frame including a spindle for mounting a firsttapered gearlike member for rotation about its axrs,

a second support on said frame including a spindle for mounting a secondtapered gearlike member for rotation about its axis in mesh with thefirst gearlike member,

means connected to one of said spindles for driving it in rotation,

and rectilinear guide means on said frame mounting one of said supportsfor movement toward and away from the other of said supports along apath oblique to the axes of both of said spindles and generallyperpendicular to the pitch cones of meshed, tapered gear members carriedby said spindles.

2. A machine as defined in claim 1 in which means are provided foradjusting said supports on said frame to accommodate tapered gears ofdifferent size.

3. A machine as defined in claim 1 which comprises a sine plate havingrectilinear ways thereon, a slide movable along said ways, one of saidsupports being carried by said slide, means for adjusting the angularityof said sine plate on said frame to vary the path of movement of saidone support with respect to the axis of the spindle carried by saidother support.

4. A machine as defined in claim 3 comprising means for adjusting theangularity of the support carried by said slide about an axis parallelto the axis of adjustment of said sine plate.

5. A machine as defined in claim 4 in which the axis of one of saidsupport; id substantially vertical, and the axis of said other supportis substantially horizontal.

6. A machine as defined in claim 4 in which the axes of adjustment ofsaid sine plate and the spindle support carried by said slide arehorizontal, and the axis of the spindle carried by said other support isvertical.

7. A machine as defined in claim 4 comprising means for adjusting one ofsaid supports perpendicularly to a plane which is parallel to the axesof both of said spindles to provide hypoid offset.

8. The method of roll finishing a tapered gear which comprises meshingit with a gearlike tapered die substantially conjugate to the requiresfinished tooth configuration thereof, rotating said gear and die inmesh, and establishing metal displacing pressure contact between theteeth of said gear and die by effecting relative approach between saidgear and die along a path generally perpendicular to the pitch conesthereof at the zone of mesh.

9. The method as defined in claim 8 in which said gear and die are inthe form of a hypoid gear set, and in which the path of relativemovement occupies a plane containing the axis of one spindle andparallel to the axis of the other spindle, and is oblique to the axes ofboth of said spindles.

1. A machine for finish rolling a tapered work gear comprising a rigIdframe, a first support on said frame including a spindle for mounting afirst tapered gearlike member for rotation about its axis, a secondsupport on said frame including a spindle for mounting a second taperedgearlike member for rotation about its axis in mesh with the firstgearlike member, means connected to one of said spindles for driving itin rotation, and rectilinear guide means on said frame mounting one ofsaid supports for movement toward and away from the other of saidsupports along a path oblique to the axes of both of said spindles andgenerally perpendicular to the pitch cones of meshed, tapered gearmembers carried by said spindles.
 2. A machine as defined in claim 1 inwhich means are provided for adjusting said supports on said frame toaccommodate tapered gears of different size.
 3. A machine as defined inclaim 1 which comprises a sine plate having rectilinear ways thereon, aslide movable along said ways, one of said supports being carried bysaid slide, means for adjusting the angularity of said sine plate onsaid frame to vary the path of movement of said one support with respectto the axis of the spindle carried by said other support.
 4. A machineas defined in claim 3 comprising means for adjusting the angularity ofthe support carried by said slide about an axis parallel to the axis ofadjustment of said sine plate.
 5. A machine as defined in claim 4 inwhich the axis of one of said supports id substantially vertical, andthe axis of said other support is substantially horizontal.
 6. A machineas defined in claim 4 in which the axes of adjustment of said sine plateand the spindle support carried by said slide are horizontal, and theaxis of the spindle carried by said other support is vertical.
 7. Amachine as defined in claim 4 comprising means for adjusting one of saidsupports perpendicularly to a plane which is parallel to the axes ofboth of said spindles to provide hypoid offset.
 8. The method of rollfinishing a tapered gear which comprises meshing it with a gearliketapered die substantially conjugate to the requires finished toothconfiguration thereof, rotating said gear and die in mesh, andestablishing metal displacing pressure contact between the teeth of saidgear and die by effecting relative approach between said gear and diealong a path generally perpendicular to the pitch cones thereof at thezone of mesh.
 9. The method as defined in claim 8 in which said gear anddie are in the form of a hypoid gear set, and in which the path ofrelative movement occupies a plane containing the axis of one spindleand parallel to the axis of the other spindle, and is oblique to theaxes of both of said spindles.